HAMB SF: Why the Idea is Benched (Part 2 of 2)

In the past two posts (1, 2) I’ve described HAMB SF and alluded to the fact that the idea has stopped just short of execution.  I wanted to use this posting to explain why I believe I’m not in the right position to move forward with HAMB.

Lets first start with the Legal Implications.  While no state *requires* that you have your personal training certification, you should be certified by AFAA, ACSM or NBFE. Since this type of business involves potential injury, you need to purchase personal training insurance, as well as issue waivers of liability to your clients.  I also wanted to form my business under an LLC; this is a prudent way of protecting your assets in the case of a negligence suit with any of your clients.

So there are a couple hurdles to forming an LLC for this type of business.  First, forming an LLC costs $80 in California, and mandates a minimum tax of $800 per year. This makes it difficult to keep costs low for the client.  Second, from case People v. Pacific Landmark, LLC, 129 Cal. App. 4th 1203 (2005), we learn that an LLC consists of a at least two members who own membership interest. This means, without a partner, you can’t form an LLC.   Finally, the PT insurance mandates that you must be an independent contractor, or operating as a sole proprietor.  So all together, I couldn’t form an LLC, regardless of whether I could find a silent partner or whether this legal construct could protect me and my assets in a tortious suit.

After I came to this realization, I called AFAA and spoke to a representative about how trainers conduct their business in this state.  While my notes are confined to a single page in a small notebook, the implications are huge  The major rule is you must document everything to support your case in the event that you are taken to court.  After getting all the proper tax permits, establishing your business with the city, purchasing liability insurance and issuing client waivers, you must collect as much paperwork as possible.  Add in your clients’ informed consent, policy forms, documents of the time and details of each workout, as well as invoicing and payments, the task became much larger than I had anticipated.  You cannot let anything remain as verbal agreement.

When I told her that I was interested in doing the workouts outside, she said that it would take extra work.  I needed to check with the city about what I can and cannot do in the parks, and she questioned whether the insurance would cover outside workouts, especially when the equipment (park benchs, play sets and gyms) could not be certifiably safe.

All in all, there was a lot more work to do than I had anticipated.  Two workouts a week might turn into hours and hours of preparation; not just preparing for the workout plan, but for documenting the entire workout.  And, in the end, all of this extra legwork can’t guarantee that you won’t be taken to court or found guilty.  Obviously, the real question is “What is the likeliness someone will sue you?”  The answer might be slim to none, but that’s not a risk I want to take right now.

So rather than give myself a hard time for backing away from this challenge, I decided to learn from it.  First, as I mentioned previously, I don’t need to make money from my certification to benefit from what is has provided me.  Second, because I did the due diligence needed to decide on the viability of this idea, I’ve learned leaps and bounds about incorporation in the state of California and about how trainers do run full-time businesses.  In the event that I do want to come back to this idea, I will be fully aware of the work that must go into making this a successful venture.

HAMB SF: Why I wanted to do it (Part 1 of 2)

Over the past four months I have been working on my recertifcation with the Aerobics & Fitness Association of America. For 4 years now I have been a certified Group Exercise Instructor, and for the past two years I have been a certified Personal Trainer.  While I was in college and graduate school, I taught step aerobics, body toning and a mix of floor and athletic training called 20-20-10 (for the number of minutes spent on each activitiy).  In 2007, I decided I wanted to get my PT certification so that I could work 1-on-1 with clients.  But, with my Masters Project well under way, traveling, starting 1-job and then starting another, I never made the time to put my certification to good use and pick up clients part time.

Last November, as AFAA notified me that my PT certification was expiring, I realized that I needed to make my investment in money and time worth something in dollars.  I didn’t realize the education had paid off in intangibles, like what I know, how I workout, eat better and lead a healthier life.

I decided that I wanted to create a small workout group in Russian and Nob Hill neighborhoods. The basic premise of the idea was that there were many other women my age who paid for gyms every month but didn’t want to add to the already steep cost to hire a personal trainer.  Boot camps in the city are targeted at older men and women, and are also very expensive per month.  They start at 6 am, which is just too early for someone in their 20′s, who still wants to go out at night.  Waking up at 5:XX anything is miserable!  If I could teach outdoor workouts twice a week, charge a nominal fee of $5 per workout, I could break even on my costs to take all the recertification courses (approximately ~$300+).

While I did home studies and took practical classes to earn my continuing education units (CEUs), I enlisted my friends to help me with a name.  We played around with a lot, they ranged from serious workout names to ridiculous puns.  Some included:

• Bust Your Butt Outdoors
• Three Hills You’re Out
• Sweatin’ the Hills
• Run for the Hills!
• Head for the Hills
• Shape Your Booty

I ultimately settled on HAMB SF:  Hills are My Bitch, because this is what I say whenever I’m running and get to the bottom of a big hill.  I thought it was fun, catchy, and would attract other people my age.  I was definitely right on that one because when I began to build the website, and show it to friends, everyone had a smile on their face.

So as the technophile that I am, I spent way too much time building the website and playing around with different layouts(here, here and here)…the programming bug bit me and I was obsessed for a couple weeks in January.  Some of the designs, if you look, needed a tag line “Just like our bodies, a little resizing of the browser always helps!” It was fun, entertaining, and I got to really play around in photoshop, so I don’t see this as wasted time at all.

My final version is up at HAMB SF – It’s only the About page. I never finished it, and there’s good reason why – Legal Complications.  To be talked about in a follow up post…